Not long ago, a man, hailing from a poor family, struggled so hard to break the chain of poverty in his family. By the grace of God, he gained wealth and became rich. Most of his wealth were cattle.
When he was about to marry, be bought a prestigious bull “Makuei” with 30 cows out of those that were slaughtered for food during the negotiation. Then he led a competitive marriage in which he paid 250 cows as a dowry.
Those who were competing with him over a girl never showed up. They became afraid of such a large number of cows. So, he won the marriage and was given his bride. They were blessed with a baby boy and was named Makuei. Two years later, they had another baby boy as a secondborn.
Then this happened! When people were being forcefully flown to New Brigade to fight Arabs, he abandoned his wife and snatched a wife of someone who was taken to New Brigade. That woman had three kids with her legitimate husband. The man never thought twice. He completely abandoned his own wife and two kids.
Family members tried so hard to talk to him, but he never lent them his ears. His in-laws talked to him as well, but he listened to them not. He continued staying with his borrowed wife. They bore twin boys and that made them inseparable. He continued bearing her beautiful kids.
His dumped wife then moved to town in search of good pasture. Unfortunately, she lost one of her kids due to poor health conditions. A year later, she got a man who was a soldier and they disappeared together with the kid. But the man could not go after his son, Makuei. He was too caring for his borrowed wife’s kids.
Every year, he could sell two or three cows to pay the children’s school fees. He was doing well. His borrowed family was growing rapidly. He had seven kids, 3 born before him and 4 of his own. He continued selling cows until he sold no more. He ran out of cows.
One very unlucky day, the man he had snatched his wife returned from New Brigade. When he was informed his wife was staying with another man, he summoned him to court. According to customary law, however many children a wife produces with an illegal man, they belong to the man who married her legally, including the wife herself. That man pays seven cows for adultery and a fine determined by the court.
So, the man whose wife was snatched won the case in court. He was handed over his wife together with the seven kids. Then the Toronto man, I mean the adulterer was fined to pay seven cows for adultery and 500 Sudanese Pounds. After payment, he was released from prison.
His own wife was nowhere to be seen with the kid and his borrowed wife was returned. So, it was a dilemmatic situation for him. His wealth was gone, so, he had nothing to marry a girl with, and the strength to make another round of wealth was no more. The man became hopeless and ventured into beggary.
There is no need to abandon yours because of someone’s. It is hard to be deprived of your own. Look for what you call your own. However much you are related to someone, do not think his is yours. At the end of the day, someone’s is someone’s, but yours is yours.
Thanks for reading “Sowing The Seed Of Truth”.